I love trying out the best restaurants be they in Toronto or anywhere else in the world.  I recently went to Girona, Spain to visit 2013’s best restaurant in the world, El Celler de Can Roca.  However, I’ve recently noticed a trend when it comes to real estate & restaurants in Toronto.  All of the areas that seem to have the biggest cluster of the newest and best restaurants also seem to be the same places to buy great real estate.   

Let’s take Leslieville for example, it has been a mecca of great dining for years now with great restaurants such as Table 17 & Ruby Watchco.  After years of fostering the city’s best dining establishments, the real estate values in Leslieville have now hit the million dollar mark.  Leslieville is no longer the locale of inexpensive houses that drove people east of the city.  It’s now one of many pricey Toronto pockets with neighbourhoods lined with expensive strollers.  

Example #2 – The Junction.  It was rumoured to be an up and coming area for the last ten years.  Even the New York Times reported it as up and coming.  Well it has finally happened as Starbucks has opened-the true sign of an up & coming area- and the Junction has finally hit its stride.  It has many of the city’s best restaurants including Playa Cabana Cantina, & the Farmhouse Tavern.  The values in the Junction have definitely increased and the average semi-detached sells for close to $700,000.   

Example #3- Parkdale.  All of the hottest new restaurants are currently along King St West in Parkdale.  Chantecler, Electric Mud BBQ & Grand Electric are all the rage on Toronto Life top-ten restaurant lists.  Peter Freed – the developer who built up King West – recently predicted that Parkdale would be one of the next neighbourhoods to see an increase in value.  There is a lot of potential for Parkdale north of King Street where there are a number of large beautiful Victorian homes which have been neglected over the years.  These houses are already highly priced because they tend to be larger than the average Toronto home however given their proximity to the city and the great restaurants in the area, its only a matter of time before the bay street crowd decides to make Parkdale their next home. 

So if you are ever trying to figure out where the next up and coming area will be in our city?  Follow your palette to the best restaurants Toronto has to offer.